"This is difficult, but I believe in you!" Jensen Huang hosted SK Hynix engineers for dinner last week, personally offered a toast, and urged "no delays in delivering HBM4."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang personally hosted a dinner for partner engineering teams last week, a rare move that highlights the strategic importance of next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) for the AI chip giant. As Samsung Electronics leads the HBM4 race with the first shipments, whether SK Hynix can deliver high-performance products on schedule will directly impact the market performance of Nvidia's new-generation AI accelerator, Vera Rubin, launching in the second half of this year.

On the evening of February 14, Jensen Huang appeared at a Korean fried chicken restaurant near Nvidia's headquarters, spending about two hours personally mixing somaek (soju and beer) and toasting more than 30 SK Hynix and Nvidia engineers at each table. He repeatedly emphasized, "We are one team" and "I am proud of you," urging the engineers to "deliver extraordinary results through relentless challenges and effort," with special mention of SK Hynix's commitment to supply the sixth-generation HBM4 products.

This impromptu gathering sent a clear signal: HBM4 is regarded by Nvidia as a key differentiating component for the Vera Rubin accelerator. Nvidia has set specification requirements for HBM4 suppliers of "operating speed above 11 Gbps" and "bandwidth above 3.0 TB/s," which are more than 30% higher than similar requirements from rival AMD. Industry analysts believe that Jensen Huang's personal appearance has increased the likelihood of SK Hynix maintaining its position as the largest HBM4 supplier.

According to industry sources, Nvidia initially allocated this year's HBM supply shares in December last year: SK Hynix received more than 55%, Samsung Electronics accounted for more than 20% and close to 30%, and Micron Technology about 20%. Although Samsung's progress in the technology race has introduced the possibility of share change, the industry generally believes that SK Hynix is expected to secure the largest quota once it completes quality optimization in the first quarter.

Rare "Engineer Diplomacy"

The semiconductor industry sees Jensen Huang personally hosting a dinner for partner engineers as a highly unusual move. The gathering was quickly arranged after Huang instructed Nvidia staff last week to "organize a dinner to encourage SK Hynix HBM engineers," highlighting the critical role of SK Hynix's HBM4 in Nvidia's future business.

Huang arrived at the 99 Chicken restaurant in Santa Clara at around 5:20 p.m. that evening. During the final toast at the end of the dinner, he said: "AI accelerators and HBM4 represent extraordinary, world-class challenging technologies. I am proud of all of you who work day and night, and I believe you will deliver excellent results." He added:

"I know the development schedule for HBM4 and Vera Rubin is tight, but I believe in you. Now is the time for SK Hynix and Nvidia to show the world greatness together."

SK Hynix officially entered Nvidia's supply chain in July 2020 with HBM2E (third generation) products, and subsequently became the de facto exclusive supplier for HBM3 (fourth generation) and HBM3E (fifth generation), forming a close relationship with TSMC known as the "AI semiconductor tripartite alliance."

Technical Barriers and Time Pressure

HBM4 is seen as the key component determining the performance of Nvidia's next-generation AI accelerator, Vera Rubin. Scheduled to launch in the second half of this year, Vera Rubin will use HBM4—a high-performance memory module made by stacking 12 layers of advanced DRAM chips—to deliver massive amounts of data to GPUs in a timely manner for computation.

Nvidia’s specification requirements for HBM4 far exceed those of its competitors. Its required operating speed and bandwidth indicators are more than 30% higher than AMD’s requirements for HBM4, effectively positioning HBM4 as the key differentiator for Vera Rubin.

Unlike the HBM3E market, which is dominated almost exclusively by SK Hynix, the HBM4 market, set to fully open in the second half of the year, shows a different competitive landscape. On February 12, Samsung Electronics shipped the industry's first formal HBM4 products to Nvidia, achieving an operating speed of 11.7 Gbps (up to 13 Gbps) and a bandwidth of 3.3 TB/s.

SK Hynix has now ensured HBM4 performance reaches 11.7 Gbps or higher and is supplying paid samples to Nvidia in bulk while working on performance optimization. The industry expects SK Hynix to soon obtain Nvidia’s official "mass supply" approval.

At the dinner, Jensen Huang urged SK Hynix engineers to "deliver top-performing HBM4 with no delays." This statement was interpreted as a clear requirement for the supply timeline.

The Battle for HBM Market Share Heats Up

As Samsung progresses in the HBM4 technology race, this year’s supply share allocation may change. However, the industry generally believes SK Hynix still has a strong chance of securing the largest quota after completing quality optimization in the first quarter.

A semiconductor industry source explained to the media:

"Final HBM4 optimization work by the three memory manufacturers will not be completed until around March. Recently, there’s also been a trend to prioritize increasing general DRAM production for profitability rather than competing for HBM market share."

According to a previous article by WallstreetCN, Evercore’s research also pointed out differences in product generational evolution, with some industry insiders emphasizing the distinction between "minor" and "major" upgrades. Transitioning from H100 to B100/B200 is considered a minor transition, while moving to GB-Series rack-level systems is a major upgrade; from GB-Series to VR-Series is minor, but transitioning to Rubin Ultra, accompanied by an increase in cluster size from 144 to 576, is a major upgrade.

This dinner personally hosted by Jensen Huang was both a recognition of long-term partners and a prompt for critical supply chain links. For SK Hynix, whether it can maintain its lead in fierce competition will depend on execution in the coming months.